It's just a jump to the left... or "Confessions of a Debt-Free-Wannabe"

hbl_2

Compound interest is interest on interest... Works in your favour on savings, and kills you on debts.

Let me put it another way. If a 22 year old started saving £100 a month in a high interest savings account every month for 10 years and then stopped, by the time they retired aged 65 those savings would be the same amount as a person would have who started saving £100 aged 32 every month until 65 ... Interest on interest. Works better in the long run.

I get paid Friday - which is awesome, cos then I get to see my current net worth creep up a little.

A little typical story lately tho - I bought a friend of mine an ipod battery as a birthday present cos his ipod only holds about 2 hours charge (it's an old one!). Anyrate, turns out that not only did his girlfriend get him a new ipod for his bday, she also got him a new battery for the old one too... Oh well, will have to flip it on ebay.

On a side note, my own ipod is up the river - broken hard drive. I ought to do some diag on it and figure it out, but it's being nothing but a pain. Time for a new one, and I might replace the hard drive in it at some point. Dang.

diekleinemue

Hey-ya, hello, hi everyone!!! *waves*

How are you all? I wanted to write for, like, ages and I have sooo much to tell you. *sigh* Where to begin?!

Ok, maybe right here, now, 6 January 2007. Remember my last post where I wrote that OH got the 0% SuperBT card with MBNA? Just before Christmas? Good. We just transfered the last balances, (what a polite word for "debt"), and so all is set to go for 2007: the year I took control of my finances!

*ahem* Proud to be dealing with my debt! :rolleyes:

*£$@*@&@)_&$@!^!*±)£&^%)@_+!£@(*&£&()!_£*%%$)&()!_£*%%$)@_+!£@(*&@_+!£@(*&$)@_+!£@(*&&^%)@_+!£&()!_£*

To celebrate this occasion in style I believe it's time for an updated SOA:

INCOME
£1000 Jan 07
£850 Feb 07
£850 Mar 07 then my current contract runs out... tbc

£67.50/child afterschool homework help. It's usually one child and occasionally two, but for these calculations I count only one.

In preparation are three new freelance projects but all three are yet to come through so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! *continues typing with her nose*

967.50/month TOTAL INCOME


DEBT
£7633.44 HSBC Graduate Loan 7.9%
£6917.42 MBNA 0% SuperBT Credit Card *faints*

£14550.86 TOTAL DEBT


EXPENDITURE
£340 personal expenditure
£63 travel (worst case scenario, i.e. taking the bus)
£45 food (worst case scenario, i.e. no sandwiches)
£40 mobile
£26 veg bag
£16 cat care/food/vet/etc.
£150 uni fees/supervisor fees (they won't cashflow as neatly though. that'll demand some discipline from Feb - Jul 07 when the uni fee comes out in 5 instalments while supervisor fees go monthly on top for a whole year. *eak*)

These are the absolute essentials and calculated as worst case scenarios. Any surplus/deficite will level out over the year.

Personal spending? Clothes? CDs? That kinds stuff? The money I am earning though after school homework help with one child. The second child's earnings will go into my ISA. If I need any more money, (spontaneous flights to Europe, etc.) then it will be from that source. *she says firmly*

246.42 HSBC graduate loan
250.00 MBNA 0% SuperBT credit card (if there is anything left over by the end of the month it'll go towards paying back my debt of course!)

836.42 TOTAL EXPENDITURE

*£$@*@&@)_&$@!^!*±)£&^%)@_+!£@(*&£&()!_£*%%$)&()!_£*%%$)@_+!£@(*&@_+!£@(*&$)@_+!£@(*&&^%)@_+!£&()!_£*

On paper that sounds all great, not least because the MBNA cc gives me a chance to breath and every penny I can pay into it means actively, DIRECTLY reducing my debt, while not being able to pay the full £250 doesn't cause penalties or other horrible fees. *phew*

I am, however, also aware that I have to sketch out the cashflow for the year because that could easily throw my careful calculations off track. University fees will be due from Feb until Jun 07, I am hoping to build up more freelance work and leave part time employment end of March, which will add considerable pressure while allowing me to focus on this big, exciting project I want to set up. Just before Christmas I handed in a funding application for a small project that would start in April 07 and run until September on 2 days/week basis. Maybe, maybe, maybe I get it and that would keep me going for half a year. Plus freelance projects and more funding applications I could jst about tick over as before. It could work! *touches wood*

Another tempting business opportunity has also come up on the horizon, which would be a lovely project, a bit of a distraction from my major project though, although it is somewhat closer to home, fairly easy achievable I think. Mh... Don't know enough yet, tell you more when I made some more enquiries! It has to do with another passion of mine... *shrouds herself in clouds of mystery*

Anyway, so there! I snowballed everthing, although with two debts, one at 0% and the other at 7.9% it wasn't really THAT spectacular and of course the programme can't take into consideration that in December 2007 I'll move any left over debt into a new 0% BT card. Either way, by December 2007 I hopefully will have managed to pay back £5957.04 of a total of £14550.86, leaving £4676.40 on the HSBC gl and £3917.42 on the MBNA cc, a total of £8593.82 debt. I'll report on my progress in this very thread.

My New Years resolutions? Taking control of my finances!

Lots of love and big hugs,
mue

hbl_2

Happy New Year.

Sounds like a plan! Seems to me you have it all worked out. I've got this thread subscribed, so will always be up to date on your postings.

I think I worked out that I intend to repay as a minimum £7700 this year. I think I might buy myself an iMac or suchlike as a reward at the 6 month mark. Or I might feel guilty and use that money to pay down my debt even more. Who knows?

Watch this space.

slowlyfading

That sounds like an impressive plan! good luck with it and keep us all updated!
nicola x

diekleinemue

Hello, hello!!!

hbl wrote:

I think I might buy myself an iMac or suchlike as a reward at the 6 month mark. Or I might feel guilty and use that money to pay down my debt even more. Who knows?

Well, my fruit-loving friend, I should have guessed that you are initiated in the ways of the apple.

I am thinking about buying a new piece of fruit myself. Particularly if I am going to leave my job this Winter/Spring I will have to replace the machine work so kindly provide me with and that'll probably set me back a fair bit... *sigh* But it'll have to be portable and it'll have to be powerful enough to edit film/video and audio, so a MacBook Pro it is! Hurrah!

To soften the blow though, I a) might be able to get an educational 8% discount, b) know someone who works for a local Apple Centre and who might be able to get me an additional 12% discount and c) am running a freelance business and thus can reclaim 40% of it since it's all for work work work! Hurrah!!!!

Anyway, my doctor says five portions of fruit and vegetables per day are just about right. So there!

*goes to visit the apple website for some gadget goggling*
mue

diekleinemue

oooh...

Am watching the Steve Job's Apple keynote and the amazing iPhone and Apple TV presentations and I think I need to save up some money

Unlike the good, brave and admirable users who posted on the "I don't need..." thread in this forum about all the things they don't need, (what's the story with the bacon flavoured bubble machine for dogs?!), I feel I very much need the new iPhone! I do! Don't try convince me otherwise!!

I think 4GB will do... Or 8? If the US prices translate then it would be £257 for the 4GB phone and £308 for 8GB. According to some articles online it might be O2 who will bring it out in the UK which is fine by me. As longterm O2 user I think I should get an iPhone for free!!! Please!!!! *sigh*

And the Apple TV console? We don't even have a decent tv... *giggle* Ah well, I'm sure by the time we have saved up any money to speak of they will give you an Apple TV console for free with your wide screen tvs... right?

An Apple a day keeps the doctor away!

mue

hbl_2

I just got a new phone (SE k800i) so I have no genuine interest in the new apple phone (are you getting it yet?). Sure it's an exciting product, but from my point of view there are three main things against it a) no 3G b) rubbish camera c) too expensive. Plus it's not out till July - and I've not heard a date for the UK yet. I'm also not too sure about the touch screen for dialling numbers. Sure that's ok if you're browsing a contacts list - just hit the photo, but dialling cold? If it had voice regonition and you just told it the number, I'd be blown away. I think I'll wait till it's second or third generation and see what improvements they make before I consider it. iPhone Nano anyone?

As for the TV thing - I've got my TV hooked up to a media PC as it is. Also, I think it would be better from apple's point of view to drop the price of the Mac Mini and push it as a media unit. It's small, silent, plays DVDs and is a fully functioning PC, so won't be limited to just media. So a bit underwhelmed with this last batch of new products.

Still considering an iMac though (I don't need to be portable) - so just a question of 20" or 22", how much ram etc? It'll be a shame to see my net worth figure drop by £1000, but it'll mark the year point of my repayment efforts and represents the interest I will have saved up till that point.

Rather than just being numbers on a page, it will be "you earned this, it's real, and it's not extra debt. Enjoy."

But like I said, might feel guilty and put it off for a couple of months. All depends when Leopard comes out, because I wont buy a Mac and then have to shell out for an upgrade soon thereafter!

whatatwit

diekleinemue, how goes life in Moomin land?

I have just caught up on your thread as I am sat here pretending to be doing my OH's accounts.

Have you added any more value to your trousers recently? :rotfl:

diekleinemue

*snip*

double postings...

diekleinemue

Hello, hello!!!

Argh! Time flies..., eh? Particularly when you take your eyes off the accounts and think that because you put all debt into a 0% SuperBT cc, everything is fine now. Pah! I lost track of my finances for around 15 days this month and so much was (and still is) happening to keep me distracted. I felt ashamed for not having been writing because not writing is equivalent to not looking after my finances and the longer it was since my last post, the longer it was since my taking control of the situation. *curses*

Right, where are we? Or more precisely: where am I? *looks under the bed, in the sock drawer, in the knitting basket, in the garden, behind the tv...*

Back in work and with a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning to talk to my boss about reducing my days to 2/week instead of 3/week and thus slowly winding down my input here. Just before I returned to work at the beginning of January I realised that this is what is coming this year/soon: leaving work and I cried and cried. It was like my heart was breaking. Now, this might sound odd, but my work is a very important part of my life, work is part of my family, my relationships to people here go way beyond conversations around the water cooler. There is no such thing as a work/life balance because everything I do between getting up and going to bed is moving into the same direction, strongly informed and permeated by my believes, passion and knowledge. This is my life and to spend 8 hours/day on something that I wouldn't consider worthwhile is unthinkable for me. I know that I am very lucky to have found my vocation, my passion and to be able to make a living this way. Not to use this, not to follow my calling would seem like an incredible waste of resources to me, like a betrayal of everything I am and believe in and it would make for a deeply unhappy and depressing future.

And that is exactly the issue: amongst all the things I am doing (university degree, freelance work, placement/work experience, relationship, research, project development, family, employed work, friendships, assorted hobbies, etc.) my employed work has now become the odd thing out and it no longer sits as conveniently/smoothly with the other aspects of my life. I have to give up something great that has energised and carried and taught and fulfilled me for the past 6 years in order to make a huge leap of faith to set up the project I believe deep in my heart, I know with every fibre of my body, is my calling.

What complicates matters (besides my relying on my salary... ha ha!) is that our little organisation is in a state of flux und changes, and while that is always true and always the case and usually a good thing, I am concerned that my abrupt leaving would add to the imbalance that has gotten hold of us recently. I can already hear your replies: "You have to think about yourself. The organisation is not going to do what is best for you, they will do what is best for them!" And you're right. And I try to bear this in mind while still feeling responsible and committed to our organisation and not wanting to cause any damage or confusion when I leave. So I hope that with reducing my time to 2days/week I am making place in my schedule to pick up more freelance work to help the transition phase/cash flow, and it also creates an opportunity for work to plan my exit strategy in terms of hand-overs and thus like. I'll let you know how it went.

I just signed a contract for a brief spell of freelance work which gets in around £600 and that is fantastic! However, I also had to invest a fair amount of money in clothes, water proof shoes and the likes. That was rather unexpected but something I had to do, (to look professional for freelance work, stay dry, as well as important in terms of self-respect/-love, etc...). Everything I bought was in the sale and that is a good thing of course, but nevertheless it was a bit of money. *cough*mumble* £450 *more coughing*sigh*

Also, I have to invest £150 into two work related things: a public liability insurance for freelance work and a membership fee to a professional body which is relevant for my studies. Both things I tried to delay as long as possible but they have to happen now. *sigh* So, that's this lot of freelance money is already spoken for and invested.

Other than that a new long term freelance project is beckoning and I am putting the last pieces into place to make it happen. Much looking forward to this one!! Hurrah! That money will replace the day's income I am losing when I reduce my working hours at the organisation. So far so good!

Although I didn't keep a spending diary since the year started *hangs head in shame* I have been really cautious with spending my money and found that I spent so much less money than before. It's really noticeable! I always have money left in my purse, so that when I actually ran out last night, I was so surpised I forgot to go to the cash mashine and had to dig through trouser pockets and behind the sofa, etc. to scrape enough together to buy a ferry ticket this morning. It also means that for example yesterday I could (for the first time in, like, 6, 8 weeks at least!!!) treat myself to a lunch at this lovely Chinese restaurant in town. It was well worth it (£6.50 including yasmin tea) and today I am enjoying my home made sandwiches. In fact, it's the out-of-the-ordinary expense of £6.50 for lunch that led to me being caught unawares without change for the ferry this morning. :rolleyes:

*reads back what she wrote so far* I am not all bad when I read that and there is evidence that there have been changes in my spending behaviour! Excellent! But there has also been some unplanned movement on my accounts: work spontaneously sent me abroad last week and that has caused some ripples. Am waiting for the reimbursement cheques to land on my desk today or tomorrow but that will only patch this lot up before I am off again abroad for a week from next Wednesday onwards, having to pay out money from my own pocket before being able to get it back. *sigh* Am thinking about including a £5 - 10 interest charge on that... *grumble*gnarl*hiss*

I am also now (almost) at a stage where I can switch accounts and will do so either this month or next. I am worried though: HSBC, who I have been banking with since I came to England, know me and know that money is coming and all is well, etc. Smile, who I want to change to only know me from my worst side, i.e. using the overdraft and not paying back and then paying it all in one swoop and while I have a tighter grip on my finances, I am also conscious that I am now heading into a period where my regular income is a) going down and b) shortly disappears alltogether and Smile might be concerned about this... So would HSBC but because I am a long standing customer with them I wonder if they are slighly more, err... patient...? Well, the reality is probably that they will have no issues closing me down if the money stops rolling...

Also, I am of course planning to demand all the bank charges back from HSBC once I have moved. *evil chuckle* 8 years of banking, that should be a nice little sum. *rubs hands* I have to read up on the thread in more detail because there are things like I don't have 8 years worth of statements and will I be able to calculate the amount they will have charged me or can I only demand back where I have evidence that they charged me? Or will I get away with asking them for a print out of all the charges and penalty fees they ever debited my account with for the last 8 years? Surely then they know what's coming up, right? Also, will they take this opportunity to close down my graduate loan as punishment? In this case I need to stablize myself with Smile before I can do this so I can get a new loan with Smile. After December's rejections I have to wait until March/April before I can venture into that direction again... Ah, plenty of questions and still lots of time to find out via the right thread.

Well, that is a pretty comprehensive update on the things that are going on in my life that somehow have to do with money. Oh, a couple more tiny bits: There are a few smaller funding pots I'll apply to for the setting up of my project and with a bit of luck I can get enough money together to finance computer equipment and such like. That would take pressure of the money sitting with MBNA. I'll let you know how this goes. Also, as you wrote hbl, it will be a good idea to wait for the first overhaul of iPhone. Really, I thinking that if my city is rolling out free wireless broadband as promised, then all I need on the phone is skype and a cheap internet provider for the times I am out of range of free wifi, because if it runs OS X then I can make my calls using Skype... right? I wonder if they have thought about that...? Well, we'll wait and see. Am flying (strictly for work though...) to San Francisco/Sillicon Valley later in Spring, might drop by google and apple (strictly for work, mind...) and ask. :cool: And last but no least: got 2 more days use out of my trousers so far!!! Hurrah!!! Will change my signature right now! *looks proud* It's hard work though. The current weather is all crisp and sunny and dry but bitter, bitter cold. *brrrrrr* Might take a lot longer than anticipated before I have recuperated the expense. Ah, never mind!!

Right, off to town for my lunch break...
Lots of love,

mue

ps: On basis of all the above I will have to update the payback challenge figures and current account status... *cough*